The Shadow Over Peenemunde
A downloadable game for Windows
Story
Ah, World War II - a time when scientists could still be villains and spies didn't need a license to quip. Introducing Jan 'J.B.' Brzęczyszczykiewicz, an American spy with Polish roots. His friends call him J.B., not because it's a cool spy name, but because attempting to say his full surname might lead to a tear in the fabric of reality. J.B. is an undercover wisecracker sent to infiltrate the uber-secretive German facility in Peenemünde. They're not just researching how to make the perfect Bratwurst over there, oh no. They've got something up their sleeves so explosive, it's practically quantum - or at least that's what the puzzles seem to indicate. J.B.'s mission? Slip in, steal some 'top-secret-quantum-ish' blueprints, crack a couple of jokes, and vanish like Schrödinger's cat. But as he dives deeper into this maze of espionage and pseudo-science, he begins to ponder: Is he the experimenter, or just another particle in the box? Put on your thinking cap, and your laughing pants - time's ticking and J.B. can't resist adding a punchline.
Game Features
This game is a short, modern, low-poly, 3D point-and-click adventure for PC, but also fully playable in PC VR.
Run this game on your Windows PC with a traditional flat screen, or venture into its VR version via Oculus Link on your Meta Quest 2 headset. Please note that while the game is compatible with Meta Quest 2, it is not fully optimized for VR gameplay, including the Inventory Menu (still under development). Despite these limitations, the game remains fully playable in VR, as I've completed it myself in this mode. Consider this a prototype and feel free to provide feedback.
Here is some footage from VR:
For the best experience, I recommend playing while seated and relaxed :)
Be aware that save files are not compatible between the flat screen and VR runtimes. Unfortunately, you can't start the game on a flat screen and later continue it in VR - at least for now.
Controls
| Action | Keyboard/Mouse | Gamepad | Quest 2 VR Controller |
|---|---|---|---|
| Player Movement | WSAD | Left Stick | LeftHand Controller Stick |
| Free Aim/Turn | Mouse Movement | Right Stick | RightHand Controller Stick |
| Interaction/Submit/Click | E / Mouse Left Button | A Button | RightHand Controller Trigger |
| Cancel/Skip/End Cutscene | C | B Button | LeftHand Controller Trigger |
| Flash Hotspots | F | Left Shoulder Button | LeftHand Controller (Y) |
| Toggle Inventory | Tab / Mouse Middle | Y Button | Grip Pressed |
| Jump | Space | X Button | RightHand Controller (A) |
| Run/Toggle Run | Left Shift / Caps Lock | Left Stick Press | LeftHand Controller Stick Press |
| Crouch | Left Ctrl | Right Stick Button | N/A |
| Pause/Cancel | Esc | Menu Button | LeftHand Controller Menu |
Development Notes
Developed in just two weeks for the $107 Adventure Game Challenge hosted by StandOffSoftware · #107AdvChal. Thanks to them for the inspiration and motivation; otherwise, I would have spent another few months without a publicly available game ;)
This is my first ever self-published game and my first participation in a GameJam. It's been an incredible experience!
Development commenced on September 11, 2023, and concluded on September 24, 2023. Before this, I spent eight months customizing the game engine and learning game design and development from scratch.
I aimed to create a modern 3D point-and-click adventure game with a classic vibe that can also be played in VR. Let me know in the comments if I succeeded.
The game is made with Unity, heavily relying on a customized Adventure Creator and assets from SyntyStudios.
Please share your thoughts on the game. I'm eager to hear how long it took you to complete, what you enjoyed, and what could be improved. Comments are a great place to start!
Special thanks to all who supported me in this journey, especially my beloved Aneta, for her immense love, support, and truly unparalleled patience, and my sister Miłosława for testing!
Enjoy!
Maciej Barnim Kosmulski (@barnim)
Credits:
- Font (free): Comic Neue
- Music (free): Detective´s Routine
- SFX (free): Cartoon Game Sound, Footsteps - Essentials
- Models (free): Oculus Hand Models
- Cover image/icon made in Microsoft Designer
Download
Install instructions
Run this game on your Windows PC with a traditional flat screen, or venture into its VR version via Oculus Link on your Meta Quest 2 headset - using the same executable file.
Be aware that save files are not compatible between the flat screen and VR runtimes. Unfortunately, you can't start the game on a flat screen and later continue it in VR - at least for now.
Please note that while the game is compatible with Meta Quest 2, it is not fully optimized for VR gameplay, including the Inventory Menu (still under development). Despite these limitations, the game remains fully playable in VR, as I've completed it myself in this mode. Consider this version a prototype and feel free to provide your feedback.
For the best experience, I recommend playing while seated and relaxed :)
Development log
- The Shadow Over Peenemunde: VR footageSep 26, 2023
- The Shadow Over Peenemunde - releasedSep 26, 2023
Comments
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I have to say the game was a mixed experience for me. There will be a few mild spoilers, so don't read further if you haven't played it yet.
The good: nice looking visuals, good humour in the dialogues, fun puzzles. I am normally not fond of code puzzles, but there were enough hints here to solve it without reading anyone's mind. The F key showing hotspots was a lifesaver, and made the larger areas playable.
The bad: open world. I see what you want to do, but I prefer this freedom to move around in other genres, and not where I need to find certain hotspots or items at one certain location on the map. All the rest of the map is empty and unnecessary, and running back and forth is not fun. It also makes the premise of the puzzles sillier - if there are all those cars and houses, why can't the battery puzzle be solved in different ways?
Problems more specific to me: I found a bug once, when I fell through the ground and could see the houses/graphics from underneath. I couldn't reproduce it, and I saved frequently just in case.
The game is too dark (act 1) to be played in daylight. I needed a dark room for this.
I was stuck for a while looking for a way into the barn. Turned out the same dialogue option got a different answer and a key when I had got hold of an item. (Suggestion: give a new dialogue option.)
Now, there is much to appreciate here, but for me, the 3d/open world looked good, but didn't improve the game. I prefer to get the story, the jokes and the puzzles without too much searching. But don't misinterpret me, even though I make some critique, I am very impressed by your efforts. It's a good first game. I want your next one to be even better. ;-)
Thank you so much for the detailed feedback! It's incredibly helpful to hear both the pros and cons from someone who took the time to play through my game.
I completely agree with your observations on the open-world aspect. The aim of the first-person perspective and free exploration was to create a more immersive experience, but it was also one of the biggest design challenges in this experimental project. I grappled with whether to block access to certain areas or allow free exploration. Your feedback has made it clear that restricting the player to essential areas may be a better approach to avoid unnecessary frustration. The hotspot highlighting was also partially aimed at mitigating this issue.
As for the bugs and darkness, those are great points and something I'll look into for future updates or projects. Your suggestion about the barn dialogue is also appreciated; I'll think about how to make it clearer in the future.
Once again, thank you for your thorough review. Constructive feedback like yours is invaluable for me as a developer and it's exactly what I need to improve.
Barnim@JAGS
Thank you for not taking it the wrong way. :-)
This open world would be nice if I were playing a FPS, looking over my shoulder for enemy soldiers, or something like that. Given as you aimed to implement VR, I understand the temptation to make the game environment explorable. As it is, there are multiple ways of limiting the play area without letting go of immersion. The sea and the cliffs make effective borders, but enemy soldiers on patrol or watch dogs...a mine field, perhaps, would all make it perfectly logical for the player not to venture further in any given direction. (But one shouldn't really expect all that from a jam game made in just a few days.) Keep up the good work.
This is a great game.
I had loads of fun playing it.
Sometimes I did get a bit stuck wondering what to do.
Thanks for sharing!
Here's my effort:
Wow, I'm truly happy that you took the time to play my game in VR and even make a video about it!
This is the first time I've been able to see someone experience it in VR, and it was incredibly insightful.
Despite the bugs and imperfections (such as the missing tutorial—e.g., there's a button to highlight hotspots on the controller), you managed to complete the game—respect! ;)
Your feedback means a lot to me. I'm open to hearing about what didn't work well, so feel free to share some critical feedback as well. Your experience will be invaluable for future development.
Thanks once again, and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
I've enjoyed your game, but sometimes the controls make me feel motion sick. The German-English dialogues are fun (I'm from Germany). I got the reference of the protagonist's name. ;)
It would be great to have more than one single music track and it was a little bit too much open world, but it was still fun to play.
Well done!
As I mentioned in your previous comment for the jam:
I'm glad you enjoyed the game! I'm sorry to hear about the motion sickness - could you pinpoint what caused it? One thing that I'm aware of is that I like high mouse sensitivity and I ran out of time to make it configurable or at least set it to standard level.
It's encouraging to hear positive feedback from a German player! :) Especially since I'm not fluent in German apart from just a few phrases :) Your opinion is truly valuable to me!
Couldn't agree more about music and the open world aspect and many other things that were not polished, but this game is my debut. This was even the first time I used more than one scene in the Unity project, ...and I learned how to create a saving system along the way ;)
Not that it's an excuse :) I'm even myself happy (and surprised) with what I was able to achieve in such a short time ;)
Thank you very much for your feedback!
My pleasure! I'm happy to help. Even as your very first game it was well done. I've written another reply on the jam page.
Danke schön! :)